george takei

The casting rumors for Season 5 of 'Celebrity Apprentice' have been flying fast and furious! Earlier this week, People reported that 80s singing sensation Debbie Gibson and 'American Idol' alum Clay Aiken have been confirmed as contestants.

William Shatner's interview on 'Good Day NY' (weekdays, 9AM ET on Fox) got off to a strange start when co-host Greg Kelly's cell phone rang. In typical Shatner style, it only got weirder from there, as he speculated that the basis for his long-running feud with 'Star Trek' co-star George Takei was that Takei was secretly in love with him. For good measure, he also recited a few lines from 'Bohemian Rhapsody.'

Shatner's comments on his feud with Takei probably won't make a reconciliation any more likely. "I don't know whats the matter with him ... he just won't make up. I think secretly he was in love with me, the fact that I kissed him on the lips gently on occasion seemed to inspired him," Shatner said. In his new book 'Shatner Rules,' he writes that he believes Takei couldn't handle not being the one in the 'Star Trek' spotlight.

Matt Lauer noted Wednesday on 'Today' (weekdays, 7AM on NBC) that the teacher/student romance in 'Larry Crowne' isn't creepy because the two characters involved, played by Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks, are roughly the same age. But according to Hanks, that romance came down to a coin flip, and 'Larry Crowne' could have been a very different movie.

"The other teacher is George Takei, Mr. Sulu, and between the two of them, we flipped a coin to see, where will the romance begin?" said Hanks. "We're talking to a whole different mass audience, I'm telling you right now. Timely, without a doubt. But a different audience."

Lauer also asked Hanks about the press tour for the movie, which included an appearance on the Spanish-language 'Despierta America' where he danced with weather woman Chiqui Delgado while delivering the forecast. "I think our press junket is getting damn good reviews," he said.

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But this season, only one of that quartet will share a scene with 'Star Trek's' Sulu, George Takei, who'll play himself on the CBS comedy in an episode tentatively scheduled for Thu., Oct. 14.

Take a moment to absorb this phaser blast: In that episode, Takei will appear alongside fellow geek icon Katee Sackhoff ('Battlestar Galactica'), who, as I reported last week, is returning to 'Big Bang Theory' to play Wolowitz's conscience.

This week, it was time to deal once and for all with that pesky tumor in Hiro's brain. This isn't Eli Stone, after all. Not to mention how downright loopy he's been lately. So apparently the resolution is for his body to collapse while he faces a strange trial in the diner where he met, failed-to-save, and then did save Charlie. David Anders reprised his role as Adam Monroe to prosecute our time traveling hero, while George Takei presided over the thing as his father and the judge.

The rest of the episode was split between Sylar's quest to figure out why Lydia's ability was directing him to Claire, and Samuel's attempts to woo Vanessa after he'd kidnapped her. I can say, that I thought he was off to a rough start on that one.

Not only is The Newlywed Game hosting its first ever gay couple. It's hosting its first ever gay celebrity couple. At least, one of them is a pretty well-known celebrity. George "Mr. Sulu" Takei and his partner Brad Altman will be appearing on the program. Although they've been together for over 20 years, they were only legally married last year (before all that Proposition 8 hoopla nullified gay marriage in California).

In case nobody remembers the rules to game: each partner is given a question about the relationship without the other partner present. If each member of the couple give the same answer, they win points. Considering that they've been together for 20 years, somebody is going to be pretty pissed off if one or the other gives a different answer to the same question. Hopefully it won't lead to a divorce. The most interesting answers in the game will come from any question about "making whoopee".

Even as states and jurisdictions made gay and lesbian marriages legal, 'The Newlywed Game' has played it straight - until now.

The long-running game show, now on the GSN cable network, said Wednesday it will feature its first gay couple this season on a celebrity edition. George Takei, who played Mr. Sulu on 'Star Trek,' will appear with his partner, Brad Altman.

They just celebrated their first anniversary after being married in Los Angeles last September, but they're nothing like the giggly young couples the game is known for. Takei and Altman have been together for 22 years.

Kathy Griffin was on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night to promote her new book Official Book Club Selection. You can see the whole interview on YouTube or on ABC's site, but the highlight was a clip from her new biopic where she plays reality show star Kate Gosselin.

Party Down is one of those shows that I always forget is on (it's on STARZ Friday nights), but it looks like one I might enjoy. Here's a clip from this Friday's season finale (it's been renewed for another season). Kristen Bell guest stars as an obnoxious girl who can shoot electricity out of her hands party planner. Another Heroes alum guest stars too: George Takei.

We may be witnessing some history here. I'm not talking about the Obama presidency, though that is very historic. Nor am I speaking about my recent advancement into my 40s, which isn't really historic bur rather another nail in my coffin. What I speak about here is a merging of two science fiction universes.

George Takei, the calm and cool Sulu from the original Star Trek series, will be providing a voice to a character on Cartoon Network's Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Takei will be providing words to the corpulent Lok Durd, a separatist Neimoidian general. Unlike the peaceful Sulu on Star Trek, Durd is somewhat overzealous (aka -- crazy like a loon) and has developed a weapon that will wipe out all living matter save for his battle droids.

He's been a member of Starfleet on Star Trek and a member of a secret company on Heroes. Now he's about to get lost in the jungle with a bunch of other celebrities.

George Takei is one of the new cast announced for the next season of I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!, the British reality series that puts a bunch of well-known people outdoors and dares them to survive the elements and each other. He's going to be joined by another familiar face, tennis star Martina Navratilova.

I'm not an expert on psychology, but when the guy uses words to describe Takei such as "sad," "a poor man," that he has a "sickness" and a "psychosis," and that he should "shut up," I'm going to assume that they're not on each other's AIM buddy list.

Takei has had a problem with Shatner since the early Trek days (something to do with Shatner's ego and wanting close-ups and not giving other stars more screen time), and most recently Takei didn't invite Shatner to his wedding to Brad (even though he did invite Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, and Walter Koenig). Shatner feels sorry for the decades-long feud and doesn't understand it, but he's really snarky about it.

There should be a Celebrity Deathmatch between these two, or at the very least get them in the same house on a celebrity Big Brother.

Star Trek icon George Takei was recently roasted by the Friars Club. Author Peter David wrote about the experience on his blog as one of the roasters.

I'm sorry this wasn't one of the Comedy Central roasts (such as the recent one of Bob Saget) as I probably would have enjoyed watching it "live". On the other hand, those tend to be hit and miss (the Shatner one was great. Saget was not so much). Also, the Comedy Central roasts tend to get in anybody with a Comedy Central contract to be the roasters (with only a few personally connected roasters lumped in). The Friars Club roasts (which to the best of my knowledge are not televised although there are some taped segments on the website) seem to use more people who have a personal connection with the person being roasted.

At first, I wasn't certain why George Takei would be the subject of a roast. I could only conclude that his recent association with the Howard Stern show might have given him the necessary contacts to join the Friars Club. I hope the segments of the roast are online soon. They're probably hilarious.